Divorce Granny

I’m working on my very first long-ish comics-text-crossover children’s book!

This is the cover:

Or, in English:

The title is actually really hard to translate. It hinges on the Dutch words for divorce, “scheiden”, and shit, “schijt”.

I’m imagining kids will go out of their minds reading “shitty granny”. I know I do!

But Divorce Granny isn’t all that shitty at all.

She’s the elderly lady that a club of kids from divorced homes get dumped at after school.

This is how that happened:

Divorce Granny’s idea of looking after kids is a bit… old-fashioned.

She basically puts them in a room with candy and games and lets them fend for themselves while she is off in the kitchen doing Very Important Stuff.

When Evie joins the club, Granny comes out of her kitchen.

Evie’s parents are in a fresh divorce, and her mom can’t stop crying.

She cries so much, it’s starting to flood the house:

This must be stopped!

Divorce Granny and her club of Divorce Kids come up with plans to make Evie’s mom laugh again…

First, they try the classic fart cushion. Everybody laughs at farts, right?

Wrong!

Maybe a joke will solve the problem:

Time for the secret weapon: chocolate!

Will this work on Evie’s mom…?

Do you want to know what happens next…?

I’m still working on it.

These are the last weeks before the deadline. If all goes well, the book will be published end of this summer.

If you’re Dutch and would like a front row seat at this project, join in with the crowdfunding on Voordekunst! You can pre-order signed copies, original art or even a first-aid-with-divorce kit!

Scheidoma Voordekunst

I’ll probably be reporting regularly about this project. It’s really fun to write and draw, and also exciting - a new publisher, potential new readers! After working in the Dutch comics scene for 25+ years, this is my first real foray into the world of Dutch children’s books, which is a whole ‘nother ball game.

As I’m working on this, I am reminded of the books that excited me as a child. Roald Dahl was high on that list:

Now that I’m listing these Dahl books, I realize that not all of them were illustrated by Quentin Blake! I see they’ve been republished since with Blake-drawings, so maybe this was a weird 1980s Dutch publishers’ choice?

It feels strange now, since Quentin Blake is surely THE iconic Dahl-illustrator. I can see how Blake’s drawing has influenced my approach to comics, too - the loose style, the “acting” of the characters…

Here’s a great Quentin Blake interview by the way, by author Michael Rosen:

Blake says something that resonates a lot with me: drawing is most akin to ACTING.

Yes! I feel that: when I draw, I get into a character, both in mind and posture, and I let that flow through my pen into the drawing.

By the way, I’m sure most of you have recognized my mother in how I draw Divorce Granny. Divorce Granny has definitely taken on a life of her own, but she started out as a sort of parallel character to my mom, who has often said she would have liked to be a secret agent or a master criminal - after all, who would suspect a sweet old lady?

Keep your eye on Divorce Granny! Who knows what she’s doing behind that closed kitchen door…?

Keep an eye on Scheidoma!